Many authors are ashamed to say they get their story ideas from their dreams. Although Freud gave us the Interpretation of Dreams and stated that dreams are essentially “wish fulfillment,” it doesn’t mean that all dreams revolve around this interpretation of what dreams mean.
To me, dreams come from a place deep within our subconscious and allow us to playfully imagine worlds and exaggerate our limited powers as human beings. Some of my best story ideas came from my dreams and the only reason I remembered them was because I was so impressed with what my mind came up with while I slept that I simply had to write it down. I have so many story ideas from dreams that I haven’t even had the time to process them all and flesh them out into stories.
Now, for the science fiction and fantasy writer, fantastical dreams about other worlds or amazing superpowers are a goldmine that we can tap into whenever we eat too much ice cream and wine (true story) before bed and fall asleep. For writers of other genres, you might have dreams that may play in your mind like a reality show. Have you ever dreamed that you were there in a dream, but you weren’t? Like you were an observer or a fly on the wall. Don’t dismiss those dreams. Just don’t. That’s almost like delivery POV material. You may have felt like the POV characters in the dream and you might feel like you understand the feelings of all involved.
How do you access this treasure trove of activity your mind creates in your sleep? No, you don’t have to fry your brain by watching Christopher Nolan’s Inception movie a hundred times to understand the dream within the dream within the dream. Oh no, I’m lost in the dream state! Simply keep a journal next to your bed and capture your dreams as best you can before you fully wake up. I usually don’t turn on the bright lights, it seems to scare away the thoughts that are hanging out right on the edges of my memory. Use a small flashlight or one of those book lights. Poems and songs used to come to me this way and to this day I read that material and can’t believe how deep I sounded. LOL! I’m always in wonder how I came up with those lyrics.
So there you have it. You don’t have to stare at the screen for hours on end trying to come up with good story ideas. You can simply mine your own dreams for awesome ideas that you can totally take credit for…even if you think some alien kidnapped you overnight and gifted you some fantastic story ideas.
Gina N. Anderson 